Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical Assistance Grant Fact Sheet Carnegie Mellon University EPA Brownfields Program EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, tribes. communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. EPA funds eligible applicants through assistance agreements to provide training, research, and technical assistance to facilitate brownfields revitalization. Organization Description Carnegie Mellon University's Western Pennsylvania Brownfield Center (WPBC) helps to promote the value of underutilized sites in the region by acting as a regional resource to help communities and small businesses realize the inherent benefits of brownfields and eliminate redevelopment barriers. The WPBC brings together a variety of stakeholders, including researchers, public officials, property owners, and developers, to uncover opportunities and strategies for continued development of the region's brownfields. Supported by the Small Business Administration, the WPBC applies academic research and decision-support tools to real-world problems facing public and private investors. Project Description Many small brownfields are located in communities where there is little interest from developers and a lack of knowledge on how to proceed with redevelopment. Through this project, Carnegie Mellon University's WPBC will target small sites in small communities. Its goal is to empower those communities and other brownfields stakeholders to make land-use decisions that are in the best interest of the local economy, while considering global environmental impacts and national policies. The WPBC will develop a life-cycle analysis Assessing Brownfield Sustainability: Life-Cycle Analysis and Carbon Footprinting Grantee: Carnegie Mellon University Project Focus: Empowering Small Communities to Make Informed Brownfields Decisions Project Period: October 2008 to September 2013 Estimated Annual Funding Amount: $150,000 Contacts For further information about Carnegie Mellon University's Western Pennsylvania Brownfield Center and its brownfields technical assistance activities, visit http://www.cmu.edu/steinbrenner/brownfields/. For more information about this project, call 412-268-7121. For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional grant information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: http ://www.epa. gov/brownfields or call 202-566-2777. * The information presented in this fact sheet comes from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. The implementation plan for the grant has not yet been finalized. Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change. tool to assess carbon footprints, conventional air emissions, and energy impacts from brownfields redevelopment versus developing on greenfields. The tool will allow governments and other stakeholders to prioritize their site selection process by weighting criteria of local interest, such as environmental health, ease of development, and social and economic considerations. Classroom and computer-based training programs will be developed to educate community decision makers about the strategies for brownfields development. Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105T) EPA560-F-08-290 September 2008 www.epa.gov/brownfields ------- |